


Fantasy Island

by upsgirl88



Category: Fear the Walking Dead (TV), The Walking Dead & Related Fandoms, The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Crossover, F/M, Post Series
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-09
Updated: 2019-03-18
Packaged: 2019-10-25 05:59:29
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,931
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17719454
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/upsgirl88/pseuds/upsgirl88
Summary: Daryl knows in this world if it sounds too good to be true it probably is.  But when he and Carol hear about a special place referred to as "Fantasy Island" she convinces him to check it out.  After a long journey and a grueling set of interviews they are finally accepted, the newest citizens of this strange and wonderful island society.  But is this utopia truly everything it seems?  And can Daryl and Carol actually put their past fully behind them to enjoy luxuries like they have never known, even before the ZA?  (Set post series, after the Whisperers arc).





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> AN: Yes, I’m just as shocked at the rest of you. I honestly didn’t think I would be writing a new Caryl fic anytime soon, or maybe ever again. But I had an idea this morning and it kept gnawing at me until I had a whole story in my mind that I’ve decided to share. It’s been so long since I’ve contributed to this fandom that I have no idea what to expect. But I know I used to love dropping off a chapter and anticipating hearing what you all think of it and I know that hasn’t changed. So… here we go :) (PS You may notice i posted the first chapter on FF as well, but it will eventually violate their content ratings so I will continue it here where smut can be as smutty as we like!)

The first thing she did was cut her hair. Daryl could still see the long white-grey whisps falling to the ground around her as she hacked at it blindly. He hadn’t said a word to her about it since that day, almost a month earlier, and he never would. What she chose to do, or not do, with her hair was none of his business. She looked beautiful either way, and Daryl was certain she would probably look beautiful bald too. Maybe you should tell her that, a voice piped up inside his head. There were always voices telling him what he should do, but following through and listening to the advice of his conscience, or wherever those voices were coming from, had never been his strong suit. 

The haircut happened the night they left. Well, technically it had been the night he left, but deep down he knew Carol would follow him. Maybe he’d even subconsciously made sure of it, moving at a slower pace than he could have, not bothering to hide his tracks, and even leaving his goodbye note where he knew she would have found it not long after he took off. What Daryl hadn’t expected at all though, was that she never tried to talk him into going back, not once. It became just the two of them, alone, facing the world together. 

“Maybe this is the way it was always supposed to be,” she commented one night. Those words stuck with him and as the days passed by he actually started to believe it. 

They never talked about the past or what had happened. In the few days of aftermath, before he’d taken off from Hilltop in the middle of the night, there had been lots of talking, lots of crying… and so much pain. Too much pain. Daryl was tired of the pain - his own, and everyone else’s. He’d finally realized that no matter how hard he tried he couldn’t stop the agony that continued to fall upon them. Perhaps he was a coward for leaving, but with very few people left he was close to… there really weren’t any opinions that mattered - only hers. 

She’d found him easily, caught up before morning light with a bag of supplies and her bow slung across her body. Not once did she question his motives or ask for any sort of explanation. She never looked at him with the hatred and disappointment he’d been expecting. The only thing she asked him that first day was, “Where are we going?” We. He liked the sound of that. She was the only person he could imagine being a “we” with anymore. Ironically, a huge reason he’d run was to get away from her… yet he’d still made it so easy for her to follow. 

If Daryl was being honest with himself he needed Carol to follow him because he would have gone back, for her. He had known her for over a decade by then and with what was left of the world and the people in it she was the only constant thing he had left. Maybe she knew he wanted her to follow him. Maybe that’s why she never questioned him or pushed for answers. If there was one thing he knew about Carol it was that she was incredibly smart and intuitive, especially when it came to him. 

There was a time before that he’d lived on his own, away from everyone. It had been Carol who brought him back then, which was why he’d expected the same result this time. Even back then though, without her visits to look forward to, he probably would have went back on his own. He was a fool to ever believe he could stay away from her for long. What if you lose her? That voice asked. Daryl scowled and ignored it. He wouldn’t lose her. He couldn’t. She was the only thing left that was still good about the world. 

Daryl took some comfort in the fact that they had completely wiped out the Whisperers before he left. It would have weighed far too heavy on his conscience to know he’d left people, decent people, behind with those monsters still out there. What those animals had done… he didn’t allow himself to think about it because the images in his mind could physically bring him to his knees if he let them. Heads with no bodies, lined up on pikes. Countless severed heads. Men, women… children… Henry. 

With all the horrors he’d seen Daryl had believed nothing could get to him, but seeing that boy’s head… Carol’s son, the kid he was supposed to protect, up there on that spike with blood still dripping… Daryl had actually wretched, not once, but twice. 

Thankfully he’d got his shit together in time to prevent Carol from seeing it. Ezekiel on the other hand, hadn’t been so lucky. He saw them all. His people. Jerry even. And of course, his son - Henry. The King never recovered. His mind left him and his life followed soon after when he took it himself. In a matter of two days Carol had lost everyone she cared about… everyone but Daryl. Those who weren’t beheaded were killed in the battle that followed. 

Carol called Ezekiel a coward afterwards. She said he’d always been a coward and she should have let herself see it before. But she was angry and confused, so Daryl was quite certain it was just grief and she didn’t really mean it. For those two days he’d stayed at Hilltop and watched her grieve she never took it out on him or blamed him for anything. But he was doing a good job of blaming himself, for Henry at least. 

She also never showed anger at him for leaving her behind when she’d already lost everything else. Again, he’d put enough guilt on himself for that too. He tried to approach it one night as they sat staring at a fire, cooking the food they had caught that day. “I’m sorry I left you,” he’d said. 

“I left you once too,” she’d replied. And that was the end of it. 

With so much unspoken between them they had left everything else behind and ventured out into the world together. Somehow without verbalizing it they had made a pact to leave everything bad in the past and start over - again. She had spoke those words to him so many years ago, repeating the very words he’d said to her. We get to start over. This time neither one of them had to say it - they just did it. 

They had just stopped for the night and were setting up camp when he noticed Carol looking at him. “What?” he grumbled. 

“I can’t stop thinking about it, that place,” she said with a shrug. 

Daryl caught a glimpse of her eyes and wished he hadn’t. He saw a sparkle there that he hadn’t seen in a long, long time. There was curiosity and a sliver of hope. How could he continue to deny her this? Or anything. Wasn’t the most important thing in the world to him her happiness? “We decided it was too risky,” Daryl protested weakly. 

Carol smiled at him. “We’ve got out of a jam or two over the years… if it’s not what it seems - we’ll leave. Escape. Whatever.” Daryl sighed. They both knew that if something sounded too good to be true it likely was. “We’ve been out here over a month. I can keep doing this for as long as we need to, but what if we don’t need to anymore? What if there really is a better life?” 

He couldn’t say no to her. Why couldn’t he just say no? “Okay, fine, let’s check it out.” Fuck. The words were out of his mouth and he couldn’t take them back. Her smile brightened even more. The sun was setting behind her and her pretty face was framed with unruly grey curls. “But there’s no way I’m pretending to be something I ain’t.” 

“I would never dream of asking you to do that,” she replied, with a sly grin. Carol shrugged, “We’re pretty much a couple anyway. No sense in arguing semantics.” Daryl shook his head, pretending he was annoyed, but deep down he actually liked how that “couple” thing sounded. 

He watched her trot off to start building a fire, with more pep in her step than he’d seen since they left. There was an uneasy feeling in his stomach about this place he’d agreed to check out, this “Fantasy Island” or “Utopia” as people apparently called it. Daryl wished they’d never met the couple they’d happened upon two weeks earlier, the pretty blonde woman and the handsome man who looked and sounded every bit the cowboy that he was, six shooters and all. John and June. He still wasn’t sure they could be trusted, even though he’d quickly grown to like both of them in the short time they spent together. 

It all began 15 days earlier when there was a gunshot, the thud of a bolt hitting its target and two men reaching for the same big grey rabbit....


	2. Chapter 2

**_Two weeks earlier…_**

_Daryl looked down at the rabbit and then up at the man. “Well, I reckon we’re at a bit of an impasse,” the man drawled slowly. Daryl was immediately struck by how kind his voice sounded. The moment he’d realized what was happening he’d been fully prepared for an angry fight. But he also knew that some of the biggest psychopaths they had come across since the start of the outbreak had seemed kind and caring - at first._

_“Well that’s my bolt,” Daryl grunted, gesturing to the bolt that had struck the animal through the midsection._

_“And the lack of a head there would be from my bullet,” the man countered._

_“The fuck are you doing shooting off a gun out here anyway?” Daryl snarled. “You trying to attract walkers? Get us all killed?” Ten years into this thing every moron had to know that loud sounds attracted walkers._

_“Walkers?” The man repeated, looking momentarily confused. “Oh that’s what y’all call the dead?” he clued in quickly. Daryl gave a nod. “I do apologize for using my gun, but my lady hasn’t eaten in days. We haven’t been able to catch any fish and it seems we didn’t ration well enough for the length of trip we’re on.” Daryl looked over his shoulder at the blonde woman who gave a little wave to him. He also glanced over to Carol who dropped her bow and un-nocked the arrow she had trained on the blonde._

_“Let them have it,” Carol said. Daryl reluctantly let go and then reached for his bolt, pulling it out with a hard yank while the man held the rabbit. “We’ll get another.” Daryl had always been a good hunter and Carol had become quite the marks-woman with the bow. Between the two of them they could find something else to eat easily. Food had never been a concern when they were travelling through the woods. In fact, there was already a rabbit and two squirrel, skinned and ready to cook in Daryl’s pack._

_“Much obliged,” the man said, sounding truly grateful._

_The woman stepped forward. “Maybe you two would like to join us for dinner? We would be happy to share.”_

_Daryl’s instinct was to decline and be on their way, but when he met Carol’s eye she shrugged, suggesting she was okay with it. He nodded, but reminded himself to keep his guard up and be ready at the first sign of anything suspicious. The four of them exchanged names and Daryl started to make a fire to cook their supper, while Carol and the woman, June, prepared the meat and the man, John, gathered some extra wood to keep the fire going._

_Before long the four of them were sitting around a nice fire cooking both rabbits and the squirrels as well. Daryl had already decided to give the couple whatever was left over. He continued to keep his guard up and gave them very little information, but his gut told him they really were good people. The man had two guns and clearly had ammo. If they wanted to hurt him and Carol or rob them he could have easily done it by then._

_“So where are the two of you heading?” Carol asked, rotating the spits of meat. Daryl watched the couple exchange a look and realized they were being just as cautious with information. “It’s okay, I understand. You don’t have to answer that,” she recanted. “You just mentioned it being a long trip.”_

_“We’re heading North, to Canada,” John said._

_“John…” June’s voice held a warning tone. “We don’t really know these people…”_

_“I know, I know…” he drawled. “Maybe I’m a bit too trusting, but I think they are good people. And they’re looking for good people where we’re going.” Daryl watched as June rolled her eyes in defeat and then lovingly patted John’s knee._

_“What the fuck’s in Canada?” Daryl grumbled. Carol gave him a look and he realized just how grumpy he sounded. “Sorry,” he muttered a quick apology._

_“There’s a place… it’s an island - most call it Fantasy Island, some call it Utopia. We haven’t really heard if it has an official name though,” he explained._

_“Fantasy Island,” Carol snorted. “Sounds like one of those porn movies my ex husband used to watch.” John and June both laughed and Daryl cracked a smile, but blushed a bit too. In all the years he’d known Carol it had become quite obvious she had a dirty little mind that she’d spent most of her lifetime hiding. She cracked jokes and made dirty comments more often now, but for some reason it always seemed to catch him a bit off guard._

_“We honestly thought it was all a bunch of bullshit when we heard about it too, but if this place is real… it could give us a fresh start and the chance to live a real life together,” June said, reaching for John’s hand. Even Daryl could easily see how sickeningly in love the two of them were. “We decided it was worth checking into,” she shrugged._

_“So it’s an island community up in Canada?” Carol asked. The level of curiosity they had piqued in her made Daryl extremely nervous._

_John nodded. “Yep. Didn’t you ever wonder what happened to all the important people when the outbreak started? Senators, celebrities, the President, the wealthy…” Daryl honestly hadn’t thought much about it. He didn’t know any celebs personally, so he didn’t really care what happened to them. If he had of thought about it he would have assumed they died like most of the rest of the population, or perhaps some were still out there surviving like the four of them. “When everything started getting bad there was apparently a committee formed. They started to gather up all the A-listers and put them up in a safe location. It was eventually decided that the best place to keep them secure was an island that could be guarded - no one could get in or out without going through intense security.”_

_“So how’re you two gonna get in?” Daryl asked. “You guys celebs or something?”_

_“No,” June chuckled. “We’re far from that.”_

_John continued to explain. “They have been expanding and recruiting survivors in the last couple of years. Not everyone is let in. There are a series of tests and interviews… if you fail, they give you a pack of supplies and send you back out there. But if you pass - you get to become a member of this new society.”_

_Daryl wasn’t really understanding how it was much different than any of the other communities he’d known, other than the unique location and that it was filled with people who used to be important. They’re probably all stuck up assholes, he thought._

_June picked up the story. “They have everything - power, cell service, internet… chocolate,” her and Carol shared a smile. “And so many things we have forgot we even missed. People are given houses, cars, and work at real jobs too. It’s just like… well… like how we used to live.”_

_“Sounds like someone’s still got some good drugs,” Daryl scoffed._

_“We honestly thought so too at first,” John agreed. “But the woman who told us showed us the pack of supplies they had given her and she had a paper with her results. It was dated 2018… and it seemed legit.”_

_“There are still places that have power that could have made it up and printed it off,” Carol said skeptically. Daryl nodded in agreement._

_“Why though? What would be the point of doing that?” June asked._

_Daryl thought about Terminus and how they had drawn people there just to slaughter them for dinner, but he decided against bringing up the cannibals specifically. “There are a lot of fucked up people out there,” he said._

_“You’re right, it’s possible we are walking into a big ol’ trap,” John agreed. “But if we aren’t… if it’s real and they let us in…” he looked over at June. “I just want the chance, ya know?”_

_Carol was still curious, which made Daryl’s stomach knot up even tighter. “What kind of people are they looking for?”_

_“We heard they like couples for some reason,” John said enthusiastically. “The woman we met said all the couples in her group passed the tests, but more than half the single people didn’t. She didn’t seem to think it was a coincidence.” He smiled at them. “You two would have a great chance of getting in too I bet, you really should come with us.”_

_Daryl glanced over at Carol who was smirking. It wasn’t the first time and wouldn’t be the last that people assumed they were a couple. She wasn’t bothering to correct John, so Daryl didn’t worry about it either._

_After a moment of awkward silence Carol announced that the food was done so they all took some and started to eat. They chatted over dinner, well the other three did, Daryl mostly listened. He couldn’t help but like the couple, even if he still wasn’t sure they could be trusted._

_He noticed once again, like he always did when they ran into others, how Carol always seemed to light up around people and he realized she wasn’t as cut out for the solitary life as he was. He knew if he brought it up she would deny it and say they had each other and that was enough for her, but Daryl was positive that it wasn’t. Carol had spent some time alone and she would likely argue that she’d been just fine, but he could still see her face when he’d showed up at that cabin and feel the desperation in her hug._

_He tried hard to be good company, he really did, but he knew that there would come a time that Carol needed more than just him. The problem was, just like he needed her in his life forever, Daryl knew that she needed him in hers too. He couldn’t have left her behind for good, even to give her the chance to continue to be around people that he could no longer stand to be around._

_It was just starting to get dark when they finished supper. John and June asked them again to come with them but they turned down the offer. The also suggested setting up camp together for the night and parting ways in the morning, but Daryl declined and was glad when Carol agreed. He didn’t want to have to stay awake all night worrying their new friends might turn on them or try to steal their belongings._

_They wished John and June good luck and started to head out. “The island… it used to be called Newfoundland. That’s where you’re trying to get to if you change your mind,” John called after them._

_“What do you make of all that bullshit?” Daryl asked Carol when they were out of earshot. “You agree it’s probably just a rumour or it’s some sort of trap, right?”_

_Carol nodded. “Yeah, most likely.” He sensed some hesitation in her voice that he didn’t like. Daryl could tell she was thinking about this utopia way too much. “Wouldn’t a really good cup of coffee be amazing though?” she sighed. “Or a big hunk of chocolate? I can barely remember what it tastes like, it’s been so long.”_

_Daryl eyed her. “Maybe we’ll find a place that hasn’t been picked clean yet. Get you some chocolate and coffee,” he said._

_“We haven’t found a place to raid in two years,” Carol chuckled. “And since when did you become Mr. Optimism?” she teased._

_When you decided to fixate on some place that isn’t real, Daryl said in his mind. “Turning over a new leaf I guess,” he muttered. “We’re farther north than we’ve ever been before, who knows?”_

**Present**

Daryl woke up and realized that yet again he’d ended up with his arm slung over Carol as they snuggled together for warmth. And yet again his body reacted the way a man’s should when a sexy woman’s ass was pressed up against his dick. He realized a few days earlier that she very likely knew he was sporting a massive boner every time they slept like this and his cheeks flushed with embarrassment. 

Part of him wanted to wander off into the woods and take care of things, but he was too paranoid she would come looking for him and find him before he was finished. He wouldn’t be able to look her in the eye for weeks if she caught him spanking himself behind a tree. So instead he rolled over onto his back and took a few calming breaths and then got up and started working on a fire to make them breakfast before they headed out for the day. 

Thankfully Carol didn’t wake until about 15 minutes later and he’d distracted himself enough for his cock to settle down. “Morning,” she said with a yawn, immediately moving closer to the fire. The further north they got the colder it was and there were even mornings where the ground was starting to frost up. 

Daryl handed her a cup of tea he’d brewed. There was a massive stockpile of tea at Hilltop so they had each packed a box of it to take when they left. “Pretend it’s coffee,” he joked. 

“Maybe in a few months it will be coffee,” she replied, taking a sip. 

He really didn’t like her getting her hopes up in case it all turned out to be a bunch of crap like he was expecting it would. But he also didn’t like throwing cold water on her positivity. “Maybe,” he muttered in agreement, just to appease her. 

Daryl plunked down beside her. “Are we really doing this?” he sighed. 

Carol looked over at him and then reached out and brushed his hair out of his eyes, like she so often did. This time though, she actually let the palm of her hand rest on his cheek for a moment while she gazed into his eyes. “We are,” she said finally. “And it’s going to work out. We deserve this Daryl, after everything we’ve been through, we deserve something good… something great.” He forced a weak smile. He agreed with her words, they did deserve good things, especially her - but he just wished he could believe that there really were great things waiting at the end of their journey.


	3. Chapter 3

Daryl woke in the middle of the night and wished he hadn’t. The weather had been getting continuously colder the further north they travelled and that night was one of the coldest yet. There were a few evenings they hadn’t been able to find a house to camp out in and had to set up the little tent they had brought. They were both well aware that the best way to stay warm was to share a sleeping bag and huddle close. In retrospect it had seemed like a good idea, but in their current positioning Daryl was both the most comfortable and most uncomfortable he’d ever been. 

Carol was cuddled up against his chest with her head under his chin and a leg tangled between his. Just the day before they had both had baths with half frozen shampoo and real bars of soap. Daryl had resisted wasting time heating water and filling the tub a second time for him, but Carol insisted and there was no arguing with her. The house they found that day was positioned right beside a creek of icy cold water. It literally took them most of the morning and part of the afternoon to heat water and each bathe. They had also found clean clothes that fit and much warmer jackets than what they had. If he was being honest, the house was the biggest jackpot they had hit since they started out. 

Now, with the smell of the floral shampoo wafting from her hair Daryl was glad he had let her enjoy the rare luxury. Or was he? Maybe if she didn’t smell so good it would have been easier to be so close to her. 

He closed his eyes and tried to ignore everything he was feeling but his senses were tingling and his dick was rock hard. With voices in his head screaming at him to stop he slipped his hand from where it was resting on her lower back down to Carol’s ass. He squeezed gently and pulled her closer. She sighed and wiggled around a bit but stayed asleep. Her movement had pressed her leg up more towards his groin and Daryl bit back a moan. 

He started taking slow deep breaths and moved his hand off her ass. Daryl knew what he was doing wasn’t right, not with her asleep like that, or maybe never. Carol didn’t think of him that way, she never had. But they were about to pretend to be a couple for possibly the rest of their lives… what exactly would that look like? He wondered. Just how far would they have to go to make it believable? Not all couples showed affection in public, so it wasn’t like they needed to let people see them kiss… though, that honestly didn’t seem like such a bad idea… 

Suddenly Daryl stopped himself. It was a very long way from where they were to where he had gotten in his mind, both literally and figuratively. He truly wasn’t anywhere near ready to consider the possibility of living the lift they’d been told about. First of all, they had to get there and find this place. 

They had found an atlas book of North America and were following it as best they could. It was a difficult task because they needed to avoid the potential disasters in the big cities, but they also had to try to stick close to roads because they had too many things to deal with like mountains, the St. Lawrence river and the Atlantic Ocean. From what they could understand they needed to get to a place called Labrador, which was really far north, but the closest point to cross to the island of Newfoundland. 

Daryl wasn’t even sure how they got across there. Did they have boats? Was there some sort of causeway? Could they actually have helicopter or small planes running? Once again, he found himself getting way ahead. They hadn’t even crossed the border into Canada yet. The last he could remember they were somewhere in upstate New York. They’d had to go around Albany but got really lucky and found a working car with half a tank of gas. They were back on I-87 in the middle of a big forest when the tank ran out. They moved off the highway and travelled along side the road for the rest of that day and that’s where they currently ended up. 

It would very likely be months on the road before they made it to their destination, which unfortunately would put them in the heart of winter in the Canadian North. For two people who had only seen significant snow a few times in their lives Daryl knew they would have to tap into a whole new gear to survive this new climate. 

Thankfully while he’d been thinking so deeply Carol had shifted, putting more distance between them which gave him the space he needed to calm himself down, but it was bittersweet for sure. He got back inside his head for a little while longer, but at some point he fell asleep. 

When Daryl woke the next morning Carol was already up and had a cozy fire going outside. “Frost,” she said, as soon as she saw him. Daryl looked around and saw that everything was covered in a thin sheen of white. He shivered and zipped his jacket. “We need to spend some time scavenging today. We’re far enough north now that people would have ski pants, snowmobile clothes, stuff like that. We need to find hats, mittens, scarves…” Daryl nodded, she was right. Who knew when they would experience the first snowfall - they needed to be prepared. 

Fortunately, food was still abundant, one of the positives of spending so much time wandering through the woods. Carol was warming up some leftover rabbit they’d cooked the day before and she handed him a large piece. “Might as well finish this up now and get a fresh one for later tonight,” she said, when he eyed the amount she’d given him. Even after all this time, it was hard to get used to not having to ration to share their meat with an entire community. “It was half frozen when I started warming it,” she added. At least that was one good thing about it being so cold, they had a natural refrigerator. 

Daryl moved closer to the fire while he ate. “Sleep good?” he asked, trying not to yawn from all the time he’d spent awake. 

“Yeah, I did actually,” she replied. “I don’t know how your body is always so warm,” Carol added with a smile. Daryl felt his face grow warm. Was she flirting? Or was it just an innocent comment? It was true, he didn’t feel the cold like she did… not usually anyway. This was a different kind of cold that was only getting worse. “You look tired though. Did I keep you awake?” 

Daryl shrugged. He didn’t want her to feel bad, especially when it really hadn’t been her fault. “Nah, just couldn’t stop thinking about stuff is all.” 

“Did you want to talk about it?” she asked, looking concerned. 

He moved a folded tarp over beside her and sat down. “We have such a long way to go still,” he started. “Look how cold it is and we’re just heading even further north. I was thinking… maybe when the snow starts to fall we should look for a place to stay and wait out the winter.” 

“Oh,” she muttered. Carol started to nod. “You might have a good idea there…” 

“But what?” Daryl asked. He knew by the tone of her voice that she didn’t necessarily agree. 

“If we show up in the middle of the winter, after travelling all the way from Virginia… it might help our portfolio… you know, give us a better chance of getting in,” she explained. “Besides, how many people are they going to have showing up that time of year? It’s not like we’ll have much competition… but wait until Spring and everyone else that chose to bunker down for the winter…” 

Daryl was already nodding. “You’re right,” he agreed. “So maybe we don’t wait out the whole winter, but just slow down some, stop earlier in the day if we find a good place to stay, stuff like that?” 

“Yeah, I’m on board with that,” Carol said, nodding her head. After a moment of silence she spoke again. “Hey, we’re going to make it there and they will take us in - I really believe that. I need you to believe it to.” 

He eyed her. It wasn’t the first time she’d told him how confident she was that they would make it, but it was the first time she’d asked him to believe it to. He couldn’t disappoint her with any more of his worries, so he forced a half smile. “We’re a good team. We’ll make it.” 

Carol reached over and took his hand. Her skin was so cold, even this close to the fire, it made him want to wrap her up in his arms to share his heat. “Mmm, so warm,” she sighed, referring to his hand. “I can’t stop thinking about that bath,” she said, sighing again. “Can you imagine how good it will feel to have a shower? A real, hot shower?” Daryl smile again. He was still trying to resist dreaming like that until they got closer to it being a reality, but he liked listening to her dreams and watching her face shine when she talked about such luxuries. 

Eventually she let go of his hand. “I’ve gotta pee,” Carol announced with a pout. He knew the idea of dropping her pants in this cold was not pleasing because he actually needed to go as well. 

“Me too,” he grumbled. They got up and went in opposite directions to do their business. Daryl had just done his belt back up when he heard her yell his name. 

“Daryl. Come here, quick. You need to see this.” 

She didn’t sound like she was in danger, but he ran in the direction of her voice anyway. “What’s going on?” he panted when he saw her. As he got closer he could see she was leaning over the body of a walker on the ground. “A dead walker?” he grunted. Why in the world was she calling him for that? 

“It’s not dead, look,” she said, poking at its face with her knife. Daryl watched at the creature’s jaw opened and closed, very slowly. 

“What the fuck,” he muttered. The body was mostly intact and there was no noticeable reason for it to be laying down like that. It should have been up wandering around for eternity like walkers did. 

“Haven’t you noticed the last few days that we haven’t seen as many of them?” Carol asked. Daryl nodded, he had noticed. Typically when they went around cities, no matter how far out they tried to go, there was always at least a small herd they needed to deal with or avoid. But they had barely seen any walkers when they went around Albany. “I think… I think they’re freezing,” she said, looking at him excitedly. 

“Freezing?” he repeated. 

Carol nodded eagerly. “I think the cold slows them down because they are starting to freeze. Think about it… our blood doesn’t freeze because it’s moving through our body - like how a river doesn’t freeze.. But a lake does.” It made perfect sense the way she explained it. Daryl watched her stab the walker in the head and all the little movements ceased completely. She stood up with a smile. “It seems like we might actually have one less bump in the road now. Maybe the great North won’t be so bad after all, huh?”


End file.
